Nadja is a dreamy, poetic, odd, yet always interesting vampire tale by Michael Almereyda. Stylistically as always, Almereyda does a lot with a little, from the portrayal of the vampires' physical attributes like speed and super strength, to using old close-up footage of Bela Lugosi to portray Dracula, his creative ability with limited budget is particularly impressive here. One of my favorite bits of ingenuity being his use of the insanely crappy, pixelated points of view to capture the intoxicating effect of being under the influence of a vampire. While I hate criticizing a film for being too self-indulgent, as I think it tends to be criticism that is overused without merit, Almereyda's Nadja is just a little too self-indulgent... Also, I found the characters and subsequent performances to be too subdued for my taste, though I guess some of that could be credited to the alienation and disconnect that many of the characters in film experience with the world around them. Honestly, I am not entirely sure what type of mythological commentary Almereyda was trying to make, maybe just the typical forces of love vs forces of destruction commentary. This all being said, Michael Almereyda's Nadja has some pretty great comedic moments, taking advantage of an old school story that is set in modern times. Nadja introducing her slave so nonchalantly to the caretaker is a great example of the film's strange but entrancing sense of humor. Peter Fonda as Van Helsing, while also rather one-note, is fun to watch. While definitely my least favorite Almereyda of the films I've seen, Nadja still manages to be a fascinating.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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